“You guys have the hardest job out there” – Khan Porter
The Association of Fitness Judges (AFJ) held its first Seminar in Miami Beach, FL, just before the 2025 TYR Wodapalooza Miami.
The AFJ was founded a little over a year ago, just before the 2024 CrossFit season began. Its mission is to promote the professional development and advancement of officials (i.e. “judges”) in the sport of functional fitness.
According to its website, the AFJ splits its approach into three goals:
- Judges Directory: Develop a vetted database of judges, noting the prior judging experience in an effort to help connect judges to competitions, training camps, and individual athletes for in-person and remote competitions moving into the 2025 season and beyond.
- Competition: Develop a method of giving feedback to judges and a mentorship system to enable judges to better improve their craft, allowing them to be more effective to benefit both the athlete and the competition as a whole. The AFJ looks to aid in staffing competitions of all sizes who would like assistance in recruiting experienced judges for their competitions.
- Education: Develop a series of documents, videos and seminars such as:
- What to Expect at a Competition – seeing athletes performing movements at competition speed and from non-ideal angles, staging, scorecard etiquette, athlete relations etiquette, and hand signals.
- Online Video Judging – how to set your athlete up for a successful virtual competition.
With these three goals in mind, the AFJ brought together leaders along with top-level Games athletes for a day-long seminar for novice and immediate-level judges looking to improve their skills.
- I got to sit in to learn more about the organization, its goals, and how it seeks to accomplish them this season.
The Details
During the morning session, the judges met the lead instructors for the day:
- Ed Blanch, AFJ President
- Jules Seroskie, AFJ Vice President
- Amy Stone, AFJ Treasurer
Don’t let their AFJ titles fool you — these are some of the best and most seasoned veterans in the fitness judging space.
Blanch is an affiliate owner and Level 3 CrossFit coach, and both Seroskie and Stone hold Level 2 CrossFit coaching certifications.
- They may also look familiar to fans of the sport, as they have judged at elite fitness competitions, including the CrossFit Games, Rogue Invitational, TYR Wodapalooza, regionals, and sanctionals, as well as assisting with online judging.
After introductions, the 18 judges there to take the course went through training on the standard operating procedures of a fitness competition, what the judge’s role is during a competition, the do’s and don’ts of scorecards, hand signals, and the flow of heat during a competition.
Then, the group put what they learned into practice, first focusing on online video review.
- During the video review portion, the judges watched an athletes’ video submission and graded it a scale of “good to go,” “needs review,” and “invalid.”
I arrived just before the afternoon session kicked off.
Hands-On Training
During the afternoon portion the judges broke into three groups and worked on judging athletes performing different movements.
The athletes on hand were three-time Games athlete Alex Gazan, eight-time Games athlete Khan Porter as well as Steven Fry and Kali Butler from the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association and CrossFit Vernon.
- Butler won the intermediate division at the 2023 TYR Wodapalooza in Miami and would return in 2025 to the team division later that week.
The groups cycled between three stations:
- Blanch worked with Kali Butler and Steven Fry on training the judges to officiate gymnastics movements: toes-to-bar, chest-to-bar pull-ups and bar muscle ups.
- Seroskie’s group worked with Alex Gazan on wall balls, dumbbell snatches, and devil’s press.
- Stone’s station with Khan Porter focused on burpees over the bar, thrusters, and overhead squats.
The instructors provided a workout for the athlete that the seminar participant officiated while the rest of the group noted what they saw.
In each group, the athlete performed the workout at competition speed, in some cases shortening reps on purpose, to see if the judge would notice and call a “no rep.”
Between rounds, the instructors asked for feedback on what the judge and the others saw, as well as feedback from the athlete. The athlete’s perspective in this environment was especially important from a training perspective for the judges.
- Usually, it’s the other way around. The judge is administering what the athlete should do, in this case the athletes had the ability to give tips and weigh in.
For example, during one break-out discussion, both the instructor and Gazan noted the importance of cuing the athlete on “no reps.”
Athletes want to know why they got a no rep, so they can avoid additional penalties. In real time, this can be difficult, especially at competition speed.
Further, judges aren’t there to coach.
- When debriefing the last session, Gazan suggested, “A warning first is always nice,” helping the judge to note if something is on the line and to give context to what the judge is seeing. “Lower” during a wall ball or “lock out” during a dumbbell snatch were two suggestions she made.
Seroskie added that while judges need to stay in their own lane (both physically and mentally) the athlete may not, “athletes notice their competitors getting away with shortening range too, if an athlete believes their neighbor is getting away with it they may ease up on form as well.”
The second half of the afternoon session focused on jump rope variations, handstand push-up variations, and then judging teams with 3 stations of movements, including synchronized movements and movement variations with the worm.
Making the Grade
All 18 judges that took the seminar also judged at TYR Wodapalooza Miami that same weekend.
A seminar where the instructors and members of the class can immediately put what they learned into use is a great combo for learning. Blanch and Stone shadowed each of the judges throughout the four-day competition and graded them on how they did during live competition.
- A passing grade meant earning the designation of “AFJ certified judge.”
For the first seminar, the pass rating of those evaluated was 65%. If the judge received a “fail” rating, they can request to be evaluated again within one year at an event the AFJ will have an evaluation team present. If they fail the second evaluation, they can attend a future seminar with a reduced fee.
- The AFJ has plans for three more seminars in 2025, including one in the days before TYR Wodapalooza SoCal this Fall. The final one will take place in Europe, but the date and location are yet to be announced.
Learn more about the Association of Fitness Judges here, and follow them on Instagram. And, check recently retired CrossFit legend, and PFAA president Brent Fikowski throwing his hat in the ring as a judge at TYR WZA after being challenged on the Wex Appeal Podcast.
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Featured Image: Scott Freymond
